I have heard through the grapevine that tonight (4/16) at 6pm in the Southeast Highschool gym in Cherokee, KS there will be a town hall type event with a representative from KDWP who wants to reclaim the mined land area. I dont know many details, but the potential economic and environmental impact of losing 14000 acres of hunting and fishing area is pretty easy to see. Show up tonight and voice your concern over this asinine management plan.

Botiz630 wrote:How much does an apostrophe cost down south? Must be quite a bit, based on how sparingly you use them.

The Surface Mining Section of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Division of Environment, Bureau of Environmental Remediation, is the agency responsible for the reclamation of abandoned coal mines in Kansas under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-87). To this end, federal funds are available through the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) for the reclamation of priority one and two problems which are hazards to the health, safety, and general welfare of the public.

Kansas currently has over 250 abandoned coal mine sites identified as priority one or two problems. The cost to reclaim all priority problems on the inventory is over 70 million dollars. The Kansas Abandoned Mined Land Program is proposing the Deer Creek II Reclamation Project in order to abate hazards to the public associated with strip pits adjacent to the county roads. Design work has been completed for the project and the Surface Mining Section has authorization from OSM to fund the Project. The estimated construction cost is $3,600,000.

Reclamation at the site calls for the backfilling existing strip pits along Lawton Road and NW 100th Street. Earth fills, a rock coffer dam and highwall reduction will be used to construct recoverable slopes along the road. A berm will be constructed for safety along NW 90th Street with minimal disturbance to the riparian area along Deer Creek in this location. Additionally, a new pond will be constructed to offset the water loss from filling the pit. Riprap and revegetation mat will be installed to control erosion. Wetlands will be constructed to replace those disturbed in construction. A concrete weir spillway will be installed to replace a failed metal culvert spillway on the existing pit impoundment. Improvements to be made to the county road include replacing aged metal culvert pipes with concrete pipes. Other construction includes fertilizing, liming, seeding, and mulching. A total of 142 acres will be revegetated on the project. The property is owned by the State of Kansas, managed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism and is open to the public for recreation, hunting and fishing.

This project will mainly benefit the public through the abatement of safety hazards along Lawton Road, NW 90th Street and NW 100th Street in Cherokee County to the northeast of Hallowell, Kansas.

Only number that matters, retrieves by the pup: 176Cooper: 15Proud owner of 2 non hunt trial/field trial fire breathers